Vehicle laundry systems have evolved from designs having rotatable top and side brushes with long polypropylene strands toward the use of brushes and curtains with cloth elements made of rectangular, non-woven, synthetic felt. The mounting end of the element is formed by folding the material of the element back over a plastic insert and thereafter stitching the folded material to form an edge bead which is inserted into a slot formed in a carrier or hub. Examples of this type of vehicle laundry system as applied to brushes can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,028 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,014.
In a curtain-type implement, extruded metal slats are suspended for oscillatory motion over a vehicle lane. The bottoms of the slats are provided with longitudinal keyways which receive the edge bead of the cloth elements. The rack or an arrangement of several racks is typically constructed to be supported above a vehicle laundering station by means of a four-legged structure constructed of square or rectangular beams. A drive system is typically mounted on a platform in the center of the structure and is connected to the racks by suitable linkages.
Such prior art curtain laundry systems have several drawbacks, each of which is addressed by our invention as set forth herein. First, the overall appearance of the prior art curtain laundry station is "mechanically busy"; i.e., there is a strong sense of the profusion of beams and slats which is at odds with efforts to make vehicle laundries or "car washes" more aesthetically pleasing to the customer, both inside and outside the building.
Second, the cost of constructing such a system is high as a result of the quantity of material needed and the labor required to build or assemble the system on site.
Third, the support structure takes up a lot of valuable space and this opposes the increasing demand to include more laundry features and stations in a given conveyor corridor length.
Fourth, where left and right banks of curtain elements are employed in a single support structure, a substantial gap exists between them and this gap may lead to inadequate cleaning of the vehicle along the longitudinal centerline thereof.